Judgment No. SC 17/18 5 Civil Appeal No. SC 470/15 I must note the distinction between the sale of property and the cession of rights to property from one person to another. McNALLY JA in Gomba v Makwarimba 1992 (2) ZLR 26 (S) at 27G-28B said: “As so often happens, the parties have used the word ‘sale’ to describe what is in reality a cession of rights, since the house actually belongs to the Chitungwiza Town Council. … it is unfortunate that legal practitioners persist in ignoring the distinctions between sale and cession of rights in these cases, both because there are many such cases and because there are many such distinctions.” There is a distinction between cession of rights and the transfer of ownership from one person to another. Where parties enter into a contract of sale of land, ownership is passed through registration in the Deeds Registry in terms of s 14 (a) of the Deeds Registries Act. Cession of rights over immovable property on the other hand does not result in ownership being passed from one person to the other. It simply passes limited rights which fall short of ownership, as ownership remains with the local authority. In this case, the issue is whether or not the first respondent, a purchaser who has personal rights against the seller can stay execution of the property on the basis that he bought it, notwithstanding that it has not yet been transferred into his name. In addressing this issue, one should inquire into the nature of rights which are conferred through cession versus the nature of rights conferred to a purchaser before ownership is transferred through the registration of title. This will determine whether or not the principles applied in the Muwandi judgment apply to this case. Ownership of immovable property is proved by producing a deed of transfer. On the other hand, in the Muwandi case, rights acquired through cession of rights in immovable